Gravity is small?

I had to pull up on Sam for saying that gravity is small.

Gravity IS small in space. I guess.
But here on the surface of the earth gravity is largely the same.

So I managed to start a conversation about Forces.
And how the same gravity applied to different masses (our bodies) produce different forces.

I don't think he got the multiplication just yet, but I get the feeling he's on his way.

And then Jimmy started to write his name too, because he was missing out.

I'm BACK!

It's taken 13 months but I am back!

This is what kept me for so long.

Our daughter Naomi came into the world.I started my own busyness.
I started my new job.
I got anxious.
I got depressed.
I got help.
I got better.
Naomi turned 1.

I am back.
Can't wait to tell you all about it.

Thanks for all those who asked me about coming back.

A Morning Went By QuickLeigh

I wrote a new story. 

https://steller.co/s/4nDaHMRexc9

Scooter Stack!

Well I feel like a bit of a goof.

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Had a great brekkie with the boys this morning.

We just had our floors polished upstairs. Massive feat moving furniture out and then back. Had great help from our neighbours and friends (Larry, Chris). We moved in downstairs with Jenn's mum for a couple of days to escape the dust and smells. Lots of in your face family time. Now the floors are done and we're about to move back in.

 And I decided a little celebration was in order.

So I took the family out out to the local Abode Cafe. It is always great to go there.

I love the coffee, the atmosphere, the service.
Jenn and the boys love it too. See Jimmy here loving his fried egg n avo on toast.

I had the mixed mushrooms.



Best of all, us boys can scoot there!
(I don't have a pic from our scootering this morning so here's one from yesterday's Southbank adventure for illustrative purposes. )

But on the way back, I must have been busy minding the boys. Before I knew it, BAM!

I was on the ground.

I stacked it going over the side of the footpath. Of course I manned up, got up and kept scootering, while blood dripped off my hands. 

Now I've got to move furniture with cut hands. So a couple of bandages to keep out the dust and donned rubber gloves to do clean the drawers and windows.

I remember falling down was much less of a big deal. 

Ditto bleeding.

Am I getting old?

Or just getting soft?

Scootering around the library

Sam and I went to the Corner of the State Library today to hear Engibear read the Engibear's Bridge book. Gee there were a lot of kids!

Torill the bridge engineer also jumped up and told us about how she builds bridges and how she tests them. 

 Sam tried to build his own.

Sam got to hang out with Engibear some more. Engibear was quite busy signing books and talking to the kids, we were lucky to get a photo with him.

 We had lunch outside, watched the Citycat ferries go by.

 And then back into it again after lunch!

And then after that we went scootering around the library together. We're doing that again in a flash. 

Our good neighbours Debbie and George gave us Daniel (their son's) old scooter. Now I can keep up with the boys. We went over the Kurilpa bridge and back again. 

A few times I was kinda worried the boys might trip and fall into the water. 

Don't tell mummy!

Bundy Strawberries

So here's my latest Steller Story:

Sam meets Engibear

Have you ever met Engibear?

Engibear is a bear engineer who gets things done with the help of his robot assistant, Bearbot.
There are two Engibear books, and I understand they are among the best selling books in the Engineers Australia bookstore.

My work friend Paul introduced me to the real Engibear. The real Engibear wrote the Engibear books with the help of an architect (Ben Johnston) and input from his children.

Sam loves reading about how Engibear went about building the bridge and his robot. There are lots of things to see on each page. The books are really well illustrated and very detailed - exactly the sort of thing I would have loved as a child.

I had the privilege of visiting Engibear in his cave with Sam the other day. I don't know who had more fun, me or Sam! I am visiting Engibear to work out how I can work with him to help kids get their teeth into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

Let me show you a new way of telling a story. I found it this past week. See the link below. I need not many more words.

Read this story on Steller

Let me know how you find Steller. I love it because I can whip up a story slideshow including video (that looks good!) in less than 5 min, from my phone!

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WHY?
In my early ramblings you might have seen how Sir Ken Robinson's talk shaped my view of education. I really think that in Australia we have a real opportunity and necessity to be world leaders in education.

1. We have some huge hurdles to overcome - climate change, water scarcity just to name two. It's affecting our country now, not in 5, 10 years time. 
2. We can't keep digging or pumping resources out of the ground
3. Innovation and entrepreneurial work is harder to offshore.
4. Australia cannot and should not compete in the same way as other OECD countries in mass producing education, and sacrifice innovation in the process.
5. We can't keep blaming the politicians because we (actively or passively) put them there!
6. We need a more informed electorate, how do we do that?
7. In the coming years, we need not only well informed leaders but followers and leaders with the right values framework, otherwise you'll have very gifted people with little empathy or concern for those around them.

So, how do we keep the twinkle in our kids' eyes as they go through school?

As my children grow through the school systems,  I want to play a part in helping teachers and parents cultivate this next generation.
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